Blood, Eezo and Beskar
by Fernix13
Summary: Galactic Cold War. Citadel and Hegemony poised to fight yet again, but with the Quarian Republic and its endless Geth armada staying out of the conflict, both sides are locked in a deadly stalemate... until Children of Mandalore enter the fray. Alliances will be made and broken, ancient truths will be revealed, planets will burn, regimes will fall... The Cycle will begin anew...
1. Chapter 1: (Hard) First Contact

AN: Well hellooo there. I've been sitting on this for a few months now, couldn't decide if I actually want to write this story... but after reading a few others and noticing how _much_ more interesting original stories are, I had a 'why the hell not' moment and just decided to go with it.

So! Here it is, my first chapter in my hopefully successful ME/SW story, I still didn't figure out half the fluff behind it all, I do have some ideas though. Hopefully, that will do.

Anyway! The first chapter, pretty basic one. 2nd chapter is also ready and I'll upload it today as well. For the record I am taking a _lot_ of liberties in the story, completely reworking the main ME plot and creating an entirely new SWverse, so ideas are welcome, being a fucking annoying twat and telling me where I got my numbers or anything else completely wrong is... welcome. I know I can mess up, hence I'm counting on you, whoever reads this, to leave a review _especially_ if you didn't like the story, but a glowing review is also welcome!

I do not have a beta, just myself reading the story over and over again to find any errors... and Grammarly, the best writer's tool you can have if you suck at grammar and make all the typos you can in every sentence, every time! (Nope, they ain't paying me to say this, it's just that without this stupid little program I wouldn't bother with writing it, so imagine me grateful)

Anyway#2! This will be a blend of ME, SW(obviously) and a few other other 'verses if and when I feel like adding them. If you got a good suggestion and I like it, it will probably make it into my story, I honestly have no idea where I want to go with it, well, I got maybe 5 chapters planned out and some general ideas about background lore... so yea, flying blind!

Now! I present to you, chapter #1, count your blessings, pray to gods, offer your firstborn... because this story will be(if I actually keep writing it) an epic one, a story so epic and real and fun and interesting and intriguing that readers throughout the world will agree that this is definitely how epic, real, fun, interesting and intriguing every story should be... Nah, who am I kidding, its probably gonna start sucking at some point, but until it does, welcome to my story, a story that will take a long time to write but if I do it right, it will be totally worth the time! Hopefully...

So, without further ado, and my blabbering, have fun reading it!

Oh, I almost forgot the disclaimer: Everything belongs to its respective owners, I only own what I created.

Now that we have that out of the way... ugh, nevermind, shutting up now. Enjoy!

* * *

Garrus's POV  
'Shit is going to hit the fan fast' I thought. After three months as a Citadel spy amongst Batarian Expeditionary Corps, we finally moved out on a mission.

While that alone was good news, with me being able to gather more intelligence on this strange formation inside Batarian Hegemony's Army, the fact that we just jumped through a previously dormant Mass Relay was more than worrisome. The Theros Accords, which followed the 5-day war, allowed relay activation, but only after a thorough probing of whatever was on the other side, relay 314 was just in the middle of the Traverse, right between the borders of the Hegemony and the Citadel. Neither side was overly interested in claiming whatever was on the other side, because if the war broke out, then an entire sector could be cut off within the hour, and this specific system was a part of Traverse DMZ, meaning that neither side could have any military presence here without the consent of the other, thankfully there were no Citadel colonies inside the DMZ, at least no _sanctioned_ colonies.

But the area was brimming with mercs, pirates and some 'neutral' planets that became so rich by being the main trade links between both empires, that they could pay major merc factions to protect them.

Setting those thoughts aside, I rushed to my designated post, even though I was a Citadel Specter, I was only a medic here. It was more than a little annoying, following orders of that incompetent salarian but being in the military most of my life I had no real problem with it. It still hurt my pride though, I, Garrus Vakarian, Specter, former Hierarchy spec ops, was a non-ranking, enlisted medic and following orders of a salarian pirate. Humiliating, to say the least

"Platoons 1 through 4, report to the briefing room" I heard over the ship's intercom.

Arriving shortly after, I took one of the empty seats next to my squad leader, Morihei. The briefing was just starting.

"Soldiers of the Hegemony" our Asari Captain spoke as soon as she walked to the podium "we have finally received orders from the Command, the relay 314 has been activated, one of our probes sent on the other side has finally sent back some intel on what is out there" this peeked my interest as the Citadel has sent our own probes into that region and they never sent anything back, but that was about 200 years ago after all.

"We have found another race of sentient beings that can be introduced into our glorious Hegemony!" this was getting better by the second "preliminary scans show that this garden-world colony has been established about 50 years ago based on its population and overall development, this world will be lightly-defended"

Then it hit me, this was it, the reason why they created this entire branch of their military which officially didn't exist as more than a pirate faction, plausible deniability after they raid a new species for slaves and technology. Brilliant.

The briefing went on only for about 15 mutras due to lack of any information, other than preliminary scans, on the targeted colony. While we were preparing for a drop, I hooked up one of the bugs I implanted on the bridge and connected my HUD straight to the tactical display in the ship's mainframe.

As soon as the fleet dropped out, it engaged the natives.

The battle started off decently, but the new species was putting up quite a fight after we opened fire without even bothering to accept their hail, few wings of attack craft came up from the surface to meet us head-on while all of their ships regrouped with their small fleet of fighters, all were shielded and firing PLASMA weapons at us, taking out a significant number of 'our' fighters and dropships, without major losses to their own numbers, kill/death ratio was about 6:1 which was in itself quite impressive.

What was even more impressive, was that both of their capital ships had cruiser's length, frigate's speed, and firepower of a light dreadnought at knife-range, their plasma weapons, and strange torpedoes were giving the Batarian fleet real grief without skipping a beat. Those ships were certainly in a league of their own and if they weren't so heavily outnumbered they might've stood a chance against the Batarian fleet, but they were, so after putting a stubborn defense and sending dropships to the planet's surface, their shields were depleted and they were sustaining heavy damage, both cruisers jumped out of range using some strange form of FTL while fighters simply dispersed and re-entered the planet's atmosphere. The Admiral decided to push forward and establish orbital superiority above major cities and bomb what appeared to be the main military stronghold. Shortly after 'our' ships were positioned in geosynchronous orbit, the fleet was set ablaze.

Dozens of heavy plasma bolts slammed into the transports which were launching our main ground forces before fleet broke formation, trying to avoid anti-orbital fire, some thirteen thousand were killed in their ship's explosion or suffocated when their shuttles came apart when caught by a blast wave.  
Narrowly avoiding death as our dropships and our fighter escorts were engaged by the planet's fighters and AA batteries near our main objectives, we were forced to split into smaller groups to avoid getting swatted out of the sky like flies by apparently very selective and indeed very heavy flak.  
Mass Effect technology offered a lot of possibilities when it came to flying, lowering mass and increasing it at will could also serve to create powerful inertia-dampening but as our little air convoy got engaged by five superior fighters of a different design I learned that the dampeners could not always compensate for either crazy acceleration or sharp turns as my head got smashed into the side doors of our craft.

Quickly regaining my footing, I turned on the shuttle's sensor feed on the panel next to me and quickly understood why our pilot was forced to do such sharp turns to avoid weapons fire. Our convoy which was made of 37 craft; nine tank transporters, fifteen infantry shuttles, and thirteen fighters, was being butchered by a formation of just five of the enemy fighters, having already shot down nine of ours, they were focusing on shuttles before we could land or return fire.

"Everybody hang on! I will try to land us ASAP" the pilot shouted over the intercom.

We subsequently slowed down along with few other shuttles that realized forcing our way to the LZ would get us all killed, as we touched down I grabbed my rifle and disembarked the shuttle with the rest of my squad.

"Alright everybody I want a head count!" yelled the Asari Captain, quickly counting how much people she had under command, fortunately, one of the shuttles that touched down with us was a Protumant-class Armored Personel Carrier, armed with a light cannon and an HMG turret with armor-piercing ammo blocks designed to combat aircraft.

"Everyone gather extra supplies onto the APC and let's get going before those fighters come back!"

We started slowly marching towards what appeared to be a small village, hoping to secure it and re-group with the main forces. Not counting the pilots and APC's crew, we had almost eighty people ready for a fight.

After marching for about an arn, information finally started coming in from other fronts around the planet, and it didn't look great.

Sure, the enemy was being pushed back in some areas, the bulk of our forces had already reached what looked like the capital city and entered its premise, though what had me confused was the description of enemy forces and its inconsistency. What I could understand from all of it, we were basically facing two military branches and multiple species.

First was a lot easier to handle, while a lot more numerous than the second, alone they were weaker than their counterpart, less armored, but heavily focused on defense and aggressively using their knowledge of the terrains and fortifications to their advantage.

The second branch was entirely different, found mostly in smaller villages but with some numbers in the major cities as well, they had superior armor and weapons, great flexibility on the battlefield and multiple small outposts throughout the region, which they used to wreak havoc on our forces trying to regroup before an assault. From what I heard, they preferred guerilla-style tactics and asymmetrical warfare to butcher entire platoons, coming down on them fast and hard, shooting everything that moved, blowing up things they couldn't loot and disappearing before either help or air support arrived.  
About two arns into our march the enemy air force pulled back to the capital or flew to orbit and jumped out using FTL, just as our fighters approached the Capital to finally aid our main forces, the enemy activated a shield over the entire city, completely enveloping it, protecting everything underneath from bombing runs and artillery fire.

I had to admit, even though these aliens could be an issue for the Citadel Council later down the line, I had to respect them for their combat prowess, with the city locked down, smaller cities using similar tactics after their gunships were inside the shield's perimeter, they turned them into powerful strongholds which couldn't be touched by anything short of a full orbital bombardment if over a half-hour shelling and constant bombing runs on the Capital were anything to go by, smaller cities would probably have a lot weaker defenses, but it would take time to mobilize and move enough forces to take them out, even with the shields down and tanks rolling in, from my experience city fights were probably the worst.

* * *

About three arns after we started marching, we have finally reached the village.

Zooming in on with through my scope, I felt my blood turn cold as I scanned the area. This wasn't a village, this was one of those spirits-damned outposts, consisting of a watchtower, something that looked liked barracks, probably an armory, a warehouse, and a small hangar for hovercraft, this wouldn't be too difficult even with seven of those heavily armored aliens with a T shaped visor, but what got my attention the most was a set of turrets, probably automated, around the base, four that looked like they were focused on killing the ground targets and one AA turret.

After a brief complaint about trying to capture this outpost from one of the soldiers and the following punch to his face from the Captain, we were divided into three teams, team one would attack alongside the APC and push into the outpost, team two would stay back and provide covering fire for the advancing troops while team three would hang back, provide sniper support and send out medics to help the other fireteams with their wounded. I am not a coward but I really didn't object to being in the last team.

The first team sprinted forward alongside our APC and rushed to the outpost, quickly crossing about two hundred motras between the treeline and the outpost, as the APC opened fire, the turrets facing our forces responded in kind, they were slow-firing but deadly accurate, focusing the fire on the vehicle. As the obviously slower AT guns opened fire the AA turret leveled its four barrels against the infantry and opened fire with a torrent of plasma, according to my HUD analyzer, the barrels were spewing out plasma bolts at about w 900 RPM each, giving it a grand total of 3600 plasma bolts per mutra cutting the infantry with ease, team two pushed onward as ordered and tried to fill in the gaps, the APC crew finally got their shit together as well and opened up on that plasma meatgrinder, destroying it shortly afterward but not before it claimed thirty-two kills in a span of thirty seconds.

With it gone the infantry pushed on and overwhelmed the AT turrets but not before they brought down the shields on the APC and blew a hole in it, it was still operational but damaged.

Before we pressed on, we regrouped and pushed into the outpost, cutting through the fence with the Omni-tools only to be greeted with plasma fire from the enemy soldiers, we were effectively forced into a bottleneck between the buildings, those who tried to go around getting caught in the firing arcs from the other two AT turrets.

"Get that APC in there, blow their cover for fuck's sake!" the captain yelled at the top of her lungs

Following her order, the APC fired at the alien that was trying to suppress us with an LMG, but only to be hit by a rocked from the side, its shields already strained and trying to recharge, then another rocket came and the shields broke down.

That was all they needed apparently, as a figure jumped on the top of the barracks using its jetpack and leaned forward, firing the rocket mounted on its back, then jumped back on the other side as we tried to return fire, the APC having it's shield already drained couldn't soak up another rocked which hit exactly the point where the AT turrets previously penetrated its armor, the rocked penetrated and exploded close enough to the power source to set it off as well, the vehicle blew up in a spectacular fireball, killing the crew it carried, about seven soldiers that were using it as cover and knocking most of us off our feet.

In that instant the enemy troops jumped out of cover and opened fire, a wall of plasma hit us while a majority were still recovering, killing almost half of our remaining forces.

"ENOUGH OF THIS" shouted a very angry Asari Captian engulfed by flaring up biotics, a powerful shockwave smashed into the enemy ranks, throwing them a few motras back.

Both sides quickly recovered and aimed at each other but were reluctant to fire, one of the aliens lowered his rifle and holstered it, then took off a cylindrically shaped object from his belt and came forward few steps while activating it, an energy blade formed, it had an almost black core with deep navy blue envelope around it.

"Olaror ohlkana, rala mhi gi'a ibic, aruetii" it said in a commanding tone, clearly offering a challenge.

I had to admit, with its black armor marked with blue and green stripes it was intimidating, but the Captain in her fury remained unfazed.

"You want to challenge an Asari commando? Fine!" her biotics flared and she opened fire at the alien.

To everyone's disbelief, the black-clad soldier raised his plasma sword and started BLOCKING majority of projectiles, the rest pinging off his heavy armor while only scratching its paint job, he was so fast my eyes had problem tracking his movement, he then jumped a dozen or so metras into the air and came down hard not even using his jetpack to slow down, Captain tried to block the blow with her gun through which the navy blue blade sliced with little effort, suddenly desperate, she threw a shockwave at her would-be killer and while he did stumble backward, it wasn't nearly enough space she needed to use her sidearm so she activated the only weapon that could help her at this point, the Omni-blade came to life and she skillfully blocked the first blow, then the second, but as she tried to block the third, the alien changed the direction of his slash and managed to land a hit on her arm, separating it with a twist of his wrist.

"Bakiyetaga" it said in a commanding tone as she screamed in pain, clutching the stump.

"You will die for this!" she said and her entire body lit up with biotic energy as she threw a punch, enhanced by her rage and pain.

Her fist stopped micromotras from his raised palm, even through all that armor I could see... feel... a smirk under that helmet, it then made a grabbing gesture and the Captain was lifted a motra into the air while gasping for breath, her remaining hand grabbing at her neck.

"Gar ganar akaanir kotep, verd, par ibac ni malyasa'yr rala gar jag oyacyir" he said and raised his blade while pulling his other hand back, the invisible force that was strangling the Captain threw her on the waiting plasma sword, impaling her all the way through.

He deactivated his sword and gently laid the body on the ground, turning to us.

"Partaylir oyar'u, ibac gar alorir verborir ner buskayu'agr" he said and his men opened fire at us.

This time it wasn't the previous mix of blue and red bolts that hit us, but instead blue rings that resonated with the entire body upon contact before the target collapsed to the ground, caught completely off guard and still shocked by the brutal end of the Captain, only a few of us managed to return fire before we were struck down as well, the last thing my mind recorded was a blue ring of energy hitting me square in the chest bypassing my shields, and then darkness.

* * *

Mando Dictionary:  
Bakiyetaga - Yield (surrender)  
Gar ganar akaanir kotep, verd, par ibac ni malyasa'yr rala gar jag oyacyir - You fought brave, warrior, for this I will let your men live.  
Olaror ohlkana, rala mhi gi'a ibic, aruetii - Step forward, if you win I will let you go, outsider.


	2. Chapter 2: Meet your Frenemy

Garrus's POV

Groaning, I opened my eyes and took in my surroundings, I was in a brig of some sort, forcefield serving as a door to a gray hallway.

"Look whos awake" said one of the BEC troopers in the cell with me, a barefaced Turian.

"Where, who, when?" I asked as I got up.

"Don't know, don't know and don't know" he answered "they took all of our gear and left us here, the guy that killed the Captain visited us an hour ago stopping in front of each cell for a few seconds before continuing on but he didn't answer any questions"  
Interesting, normally when someone attacked you, there would be interrogations, deciphering their language, but those guys looked like they didn't care much.

"Shit, here he comes again" informed the youngest of us all, a barely conscript-age turian  
Indeed the heavily armored warrior marching down the corridor when he suddenly stopped, while passing my cell, and immediately turned to look at me, I could feel his stare trying to pierce my mind, hell for all I know after the little show while killing Captain Bitch, he actually was trying to read my mind.

"Hiibir kaysh!" he said with an authoritative voice to one of the guards

The forcefield dropped and a guard with a _metal_ sword came in, grabbed me by my crest and took me out of the cell, holding me by both of my arms the guards dragged me down the corridor and threw me inside a poorly lit room with a table and two chairs.  
The alien in a black armor with blue and green stripes came inside the room as well and activated the forcefield again, I instinctively backed up against a wall opposite from him, not knowing what was going to happen I preferred to have some space between my killer and myself, even if I probably couldn't kill him, I was still going to make a stand, but instead of attacking the alien simply took one of the chairs and gestured for me to sit down as well, i complied.

Even after years in the military, one could never get used to this kind of thing, interrogations were something that everyone feared the most, some feared it even more than death because if you die, you don't feel anything.  
If you got caught behind enemy lines though, the tortures could take weeks depending on what information they thought you had, pirates and Hegemony Inquisitors were always an unforgiving bunch when it came to interrogations, I got captured only once and I would prefer not to relive that experience since my mandibles were still healing after the interrogator crushed them with a hammer.

It wasn't even the pain and the tortures that were the worst, they sure sucked but the knowledge that you probably will not get rescued was even worse, you can take pain as long as you are motivated or know that help is on the way, but if you knew that you would probably be left to die or were marked as MIA presumed KIA then you knew that you were alone, that you now had a master that would do whatever he wanted to you.

"Dhogu vali bedeskal suv min?" it asked in a low tone it was probably asking me if I could understand it, but I couldn't so I just shook my head.

Noticing I can't understand it, it raised it's palm and touched my hand, I immediately felt a shock going through my entire nervous system and energy radiating from the alien as if it was probing my entire body.  
Feeling curious, I waited until the sensation reached my mind, then I felt it, it was a mind meld, the alien was gently trying to access my mind.

I felt a thought if that makes any sense, but it was not my own, it was almost as if the alien was trying to-

"Hello" I heard in my mind when I concentrated on it

"Hello" I thought

"This will hurt" I heard again and a sense of panic washed over me a split-second before I felt an overwhelming presence in my mind, I tried to fight it but I couldn't, it already blasted through my mental defenses when I panicked.

The pain was excruciating, I could feel parts of my mind being torn away and put back together as if the presence was searching for something, but finally, it found it, I cried out in pain when the knowledge was pulled out of my head and put inside it, then suddenly it was over, the pain and the narrow vision, I was again in the interrogation room, staring at the alien.

"I sorry," it said with a broken accent "takes time, knowledge being processed, my name Lord Bredon"

"Garrus Vakarian" I replied amazed at the feat the alien just pulled off and forgetting to use my fake name, then electroshock went through my spine

"Mind rape brutal but effective, will take a minute to wear off"

"How much is a minute?" I asked through gritted mandibles

"Short" it replied while taking off its helmet

The alien's features were... interesting to say the least, the skin was pearly white colored with grey eyes and some kind of... fur at the top and back of its head. Its face resembled an Asari... mostly, were it not for the skin color and the fur... this is what a male Asari would look like if they existed.

"I put my basic language in your head" it Lord Bredon started "should understand others, will take time" he relaxed a little in his chair and looked into my eyes " do you know why I take you here?"

I shook my head.

"You are different, can't sense the darkness and evil from you, you are not of them, you also use a different name than they provided for you"  
Realizing that he just caught me, I decided to play along and learn as much as I can.

"Yes, I'm not from the Hegemony" I confirmed to which he nodded

"I suspected as much, your mind is trained to some degree, harder, more... determined, doesn't feel like a mind of a pirate or a slaver"

'Doesn't _feel_?' I thought surprised

"What do you mean my mind doesn't _feel_?" I asked

"When you are a master of the Force, you know how different minds feel through the Force" he replied tilting his head a little " you are not a Force user?"

I shook my head again.

"I have no idea what is the force you mention"

He sized me up and crossed his hands over his chest.

"That is strange... but irrelevant for now, who are you really if not a 'Hegemony' soldier? I assume the Hegemony is the army that attacked us?"

"The Batarian Hegemony, yes. As for me, I am a Citadel Council SPECTRE"

"I sense pride in your voice, what is the Citadel Council? What are the SPECTREs?" he asked

"SPECTRE stands for Special Tactics and Reconnaissance, it falls directly under command of the Council, governing body of our... well, a federation would be a correct word for it" I replied, trying to work through the still-present pain throughout my body.

"So, you're a spy" It wasn't a question judging by his voice.

"Essentially yes, the Hegemony and the Citadel are enemies, we might have a temporary peace since the end of the Skyllian War, but it only means there is no direct warfare between us, what is usually called as the Shadow War is raging on"

"What is the Citadel though? What is the Hegemony, why did they attack us? Why do you hate each other?" I could see where this was going, this probably young civilization suddenly got attacked by a galactic super-power, 'Lord Bredon' wanted to figure out where they stood and how to even react to this. This would give me an opportunity to gain some intel.

"I'm sure you have questions, as do I, so what I suggest is: answer for an answer, I ask you a question and after you answer it, you ask me one" I was in no position to bargain and I knew it, even though I was at his mercy I had to try.

He laughed, obviously amused by my idea, he knew very well I was at his mercy and what I was doing...

"Alright, I'll play this game Vakarian" he said after calming down a little, surprising me "but I can sense if you're lying, you do that and the mind rape will be the most _pleasant_ thing I will do to you" let's say the chill I felt going through my spine was a strong one.

"Fine, but since I already answered a couple of your questions, I will ask mine first" his eyes narrowed, fingers gripped something invisible... it was getting a little harder to breathe.

"Fine, ask" he said in a very low voice.

"Who are you? Full background" I asked hesitantly, which earned me a prideful smile. Whatever it was that made breathing difficult, vanished.

"I am Lord Bredon, council member of the Inquisition, one of the Mandalore's Hands, a Grey Master and an honorary Al`verde of the Mandalorian Army and Navy." I could feel his pride, whatever all of this meant "What is the Hegemony?"

"Batarian Hegemony is one of three major powers in the galaxy, and one of two superpowers, second only to the Citadel" I knew how to play this game, I sure as hell wasn't leaving this room until we both knew what we wanted

"Not bad, I see you SPECTRE's have decent standards for your members, ask your question Mr. Vakarian" he smirked

"Who is the Mandalore?"

"The leader of the Mandalorian Empire"

I felt my blood run cold, another authoritative regime, with powerful technology, if they somehow made peace with the Hegemony...

"Why are you in conflict with the Hegemony?" he asked, interrupting my thoughts.

"They want to conquer us, we don't want to be conquered. What is the form of government your... Empire has?" I had to get a basic grasp at the situation, fast.

"That is... hard to answer" I could see that, judging by the way he frowned at my question "I guess... it could be called a partially-democratic constitutional monarchy. Why have they attacked us?"

That surprised me, what the hell does it mean, partially-democratic monarchy? How would that even work?

"Not sure, I suspect they wanted to bait you into attacking the Citadel since only Citadel species and ships are a part of the BEC, also get some slaves and steal your technology. How long have your species been spacefaring?"

"Humans? About 750 years" strange way to put it, 'unless their Empire is made up of more than one species' I thought "When can we expect Hegemony reinforcements?"

"Hmm... not soon, if at all, the BEC was not created for a prolonged campaign, and if they send in their regular fleets, they would expose themselves as your attackers. I would say, about a month if they have another BEC fleet ready, if not, no reinforcements will be sent at all..." as I finished speaking, the entire room shook slightly, dust falling from the ceiling, explosions could be heard outside the building.

"Our time is up" he said while standing up and raised his forearm close to his face "This is Lord Bredon, Russ'alor Massani, give me the status report"

"A lot of aruetii coming our way my lord, I suggest ba'slan shev'la" I could hear from Bredon's wrist-mounted comm unit.

"Agreed, kill all prisoners and hold the perimeter, I'm calling in our evac" he turned to me, his hand on his sidearm "follow me to evac ship, we will finish this discussion when we get to safety"

I was more than a little relieved when instead of shooting me like other prisoners, he turned around and deactivated the forcefield, gesturing for me to follow him out, which I did happily.

As we were going through the prison section, I saw his men executing my fellow... nevermind. The BEC soldiers were butchered without remorse, the

Mandalorian guards just threw explosives inside their cells and re-activated the force fields again, not really caring if they killed them all, and moved into formation with us, following us towards the exit.

After a few microts of contemplation, I understood why they didn't care about finishing all prisoners off. Dead don't talk, and heavily injured will slow the BEC forces down and drain their resources in order to treat them, and even if they are left for dead by their allies, it is still irrelevant since they will die on their own. Win-win for Mandalorians.

As we exited the prison building, we entered a literal warzone.

"Al'verde! The enemy is upon us!" shouted one of the Mandalorians as (I guess) she fired her plasma rifle full auto at the BEC squad across the courtyard.

"I can see that verd'ika!" Bredon replied, yelling over the sound of explosions from BEC mechanized support "We need to hold out two minutes until our evac arrives"

"But my lord, we can beat them back!" tried to argue another Mandalorian, he was obviously male judging by his body.

"Don't argue with me Shepard, you and your sister may be good in a fight but I'm in command here, be ready to pull back" Lord Bredon said in a tone that allowed no further argument from the siblings.

"By your will, my lord" said the one addressed as "Shepard" and pounded his chest with his arm one time, I guess in some sort of salute, and turned towards the slowly advancing Hegemony forces, firing in short bursts and taking out those who tried to take potshots at his sister.

As interesting as this all was, I was quickly reminded that we were in an active warzone when an explosive shell landed only a few meters away, knocking everyone to the ground. I got lucky that most of the shrapnel was absorbed by Lord Bredon's armor, it did not save us from being thrown into a wall though.

"Damn it, where is that gunship!" I could hear him yell over the ringing sound in my head "Lord Bredon to A'den Solus, what is your ETA?" It sounded strange, I could understand one of the languages they were using but not the other one.

"ETA one minute my lord! Paint your targets in 30 seconds!" still not knowing they measurement units, I could only hope it meant 'soon'

"Roger that, Bredon out!" he fired both of his pistols at a pair of unlucky and over-eager BEC troopers, scoring headshots. Another of the three Mandalorians that accompanied us fired what looked like a sniper rifle, piercing two Asari and a Salarian that accidentally lined up for him. I felt a bullet fly by my head as I was thrown to the ground by some invisible force.

"Don't stand up Vakarian, we can take shots from their peashooters, you can't!" I could hear him shout at me, lifting my head a little to see what's going on I saw a Beshik MBT crashing through a building and turning its main cannon on us... shit.

Beshik MBTs were a pinnacle of siege vehicles on the market, slow and not really agile but heavily armored and sporting a powerful double-barreled main gun, the turret was incredibly slow to turn but that was mitigated by powerful armor on all sides and some of the best shielding you could find on a ground vehicle.

As it was slowly turning to face us, Bredon's commlink activated again.

"This is A'den Solus, we are in your AO" turret kept turning "beginning our attack run from the south-east, trailing north, commencing five seconds" by now it was already aimed in our direction. Doing the only thing we really could, we hit the ground, the shells went slightly above us and hit the wall behind our position, rubble and debris fell on us but we were otherwise fine if somewhat covered in dust.

The tank gunner realized his mistake and aim at the ground between us, closing my eyes I readied myself to die.  
I could hear the explosion, then another and another, but nothing hit me other than falling dirt, I slowly opened my eyes and looked up.

The entire courtyard was set ablaze, Beshik was a smoking piece of scrap surrounded by about a squad of smoking corpses. I felt something pulling at my arm and saw the one called Shepard trying to pull me up.

"Cmon birdie, we got to go now before they get their shit back together!" that got me going, as he got me back on my feet a gunship that took out the MBT and the squad supporting it, landed right in front of us, three more Mandalorians jumped out as the ramp lowered and kneeled down, ready to cover us as we got aboard.

In less than 30 microts everyone was inside and not long after, we were flying away safely.

"Ladies, gentlemen and alien birds, thank you for choosing the Happy Trail Airlines! Weather forecast shows a shitload of enemy fighters between us and the capital city so, for now, we will be moving in the general direction of the Gett Haran which crashlanded about 15 minutes away from us at full speed. Please sit down, relax, polish your armor and be ready for hostile contact, this is your resident Joker and a pilot, signing off!" the intercom went dead

Bruised and aching, I decided that a small break doesn't sound so bad, didn't even notice when I dozed off in the first chair I found.

* * *

AN: Corrected the format, it was a little screwed up. Thanks to Helkil for pointing it out.  
Im using proto basic in the conversation only to make a distinction that its an alien language which Garrus can't understand, it will be however referred to as Basic.

Mando Dictionary:  
Hiibir kaysh! - Take him (as in bring him to me)  
Proto-basic:  
Dhogu vali bedeskal suv min - Can you understand me?


	3. Chapter 3: Decleration of War

20 Minutes after arriving in Tihonian Valley

"You people are completely insane"  
This was all Garrus could say after hearing the plan they came up with to stop the BEC advancing through the valley.

After arriving at the crash site, he and Lord Bredon were taken to what was left of the ship's bridge. The Gett Haran still had satellite uplink allowing us to see exactly how many BEC forces were making their way towards us. As soon discovered, the entire 3rd Army was heading their way.

Forty-two thousand infantry, about three hundred MBTs, hundreds of artillery units with full air support.

Instead of blowing up the wreckage and simply retreating, Mandalorians were talking about an INSANE plan to stop an entire army with everything they had, which was not much, a little over 700 able-bodied soldiers, most of them were just local militia or whatever is their equivalent of reserves, three dozen HMGs, 6 AT turrets, a couple of infantry AT rocket launchers... that's it. At first, Garrus's reaction was to just laugh at them... then he tried to explain to them that staying was a suicide... still no normal reaction.

"Do you people have a deathwish? You can't stop this army with what you have, end of story!" their refusal to think logically was starting to really annoy him.

"Garrus, it has to be done" said Bredon "Our forces on the continent are in complete disarray, we were not even remotely ready for an attack on this planet, BEC can't move past this valley for the next 24 hours or we will lose the Capital City, if we lose it will free up enough of their forces to mop up any remaining resistance on the continent"

"I know that! I heard the briefing, but you can't hold it against that army with so little forces of your own" the Specter kept arguing " their air support alone could glass this entire valley, on top of everything else"

"Fortunately we have something here that they want to keep as intact as possible" Alor'ad Raginis smiled "they won't risk the destruction of all this valuable tech in the valley, which means they have to come out here and get us in person"

Garrus thought about it. On one hand, it directly takes away the air support and heavy artillery out of the picture... on the other hand, they still have hundreds of tanks, tens of thousands of troopers and a LOT more ammunition than the defending side.

"They can still drown you in bodies, light artillery barrages, and tanks that you can't kill" he pointed out, slightly more hesitantly.

"That is true... fortunately we have the element of surprise on our side"

"How the hell do you have an element of surprise? They are marching towards you!"

"True, but that's not the surprise I meant" Raginis said, smiling " during one of our wars about 300 years ago, a man called Surami made himself known as one of the most tactically brilliant commanders in history. He never had a numerical advantage against us, didn't have superior technology, his soldiers were also inferior to our own, and yet he lost only four battles against us, out of a couple dozen" Garrus leaned closer, this somewhat caught his attention "after the war, when we interrogated his command staff and properly analyzed our past battles against him, we finally understood what was his actual strategy. He never actually WON a battle against our superior forces, he only forced them to retreat"

"Um... this is how you win a battle" the Specter pointed out, a little confused "you beat your enemy into submission and force them to pull back..."

"Not what I meant" Raginis clarified "the casualties suffered against him were _minimal_ most of the time *sigh* he attacked recklessly, without holding any forces in the reserve, stretching his lines, sending everything he could at us. Our commanders, having no idea that this was all he had, put up little resistance before withdrawing, often leaving lesser facilities they were defending" the Turian smiled, seeing his point " when he knew we wouldn't retreat, he simply found another target that would pull back under enough pressure. Every time he fought us, we had every advantage, but we didn't know that. Our commanders were always sending more and more forces to secure their flanks in case the frontal and _reckless_ attack was just a ruse, pulling back patrols in case he wanted to take their forces apart piece by piece, his greatest weapon was _us_, not knowing what he might do, paranoid about his secret plans, flanking attacks, always modeling his behavior after the way he fought minor skirmishes, where he actually used all those tactics since he had enough manpower to do it and wasn't outnumbered 5 to 1"

"That is... an interesting story, but how do you plan to implement it?" Garrus asked, remembering the story for future reference.

"We set up our lines here" Raginis marked a spot in the valley close to the ship "all the debris and interference will mask our forces from orbital scans, as they approach, we use Surami's overwhelming fire strategy and hit them everything we've got, keeping only a platoon near the wreckage as a security force in case of an infiltration"

"This might work" Bredon decided "for a time, and we are trying to buy exactly that. Time, our scattered forces need it badly"

Nodding, Garrus brought up his Omni-Tool and sent a few data packets to Raginis's 'datapad'

"Here, analyze these files, it should help you during the battle" he explained "full combat specs on whatever equipment they have, I can't help you with the units all those numbers are in, but you should be able to translate them based on sensor data from other battles"

"Thank you, Mr. Vakarian, we will put this data to good use" Raginis thanked the Specter.

"My lords! Sorry to interrupt but we've received an urgent transmission from the Capital" one of the Mandalorians manning the console informed them.

"Put it through" ordered Bredon.

The holotable in front of us lit up but died soon after.

"This is the Capital Command to any Mandalorian forces in the Tihonian Valley, do you copy? I repeat, this is Capital Command to any..."

"This is Alor'ad Raginis, who am I speaking to?" the Mandalorian commander answered the hail.

"This is Alor'aan Marcus Corhan from clan Ordo, I've been organizing a centralized command of this planet, what is your status?" voice on the other side asked.

"Stable for now, but in about 6 hours we will have an entire BEC 3rd army at our doorstep and we are outnumbered sixty to one..."

"BEC? Is that what the enemy calls itself?" interrupted Corhan

"Affirmative, with help from Lord Bredon and one of the prisoners, we have gained access to a lot of useful data, I will send it shortly" confirmed Raginis

"Well I'll be damned... is Bredon with you right now?'

"Indeed I am Marcus, it's good to hear you haven't got your ass shot yet... oh, I keep forgetting" Bredon trailed off, smirking.

"That was a lucky shot!" came the annoyed response

"Yea yea sure... anyway, tell me about our situation more, how deep in shit are we?" he asked

"Not gonna lie to you, very" Corhen started to explain "the SatNet can't locate the majority of our forces on the ground, there is way too much interference from the 'BEC' ships and jammers all around Shanylia... what the hell does BEC mean?"

"Batarian Expeditionary Corps, a new military branch in the Batarian Hegemony" Garrus chimed in "a separate branch of the Batarian Military forces"

"Ahh, that must be the prisoner Raginis mentioned, you still collecting strays, Bredon?"

"Nope! Not keeping him, he's owned by another galactic government's intelligence agency, our possible allies in the future."

"As if that would stop you, anyway" Corhan started again "the clans on this planes are scattered, cities are few and far in-between, only part of them have any decent defenses and shield generators. The house they are trying to start on this planet, House Livoral, is still not even remotely ready for something like this, which is why we are trying to make all clans fall in line, but so far it's been going slow, they are scattered and scared, there are some small-time mercenaries, a couple of old veterans like me, and a shitload of random clans that aren't even officially recognized, they're just normal civvies, and I'm talking barely above Republic-level civvies."

"This certainly makes the situation even more interesting, what do you need, old friend?" Lord Bredon asked.

"Time, buy us all the time you can, we need it badly before the reinforcements can arrive, speaking of which, have you received the news?"

"What news?"

"That report you sent along with an SOS made it through, along with all the data our techs pulled from those holographic devices"

"Those are Omni-tools" Garrus offered.

"Yes, those. I think it is for the best if I just let you watch it for yourselves, sending the files"

As the data transfer finished, Lord Bredon took out one of his more expensive-looking datapads from a pouch on his armor and tossed it on the broken holotable, activating its projector, a strange symbol, like a skull with long tusks, appeared in the air.

"All Imperial forces and citizens of the Empire, stand by for an emergency broadcast from the Mandalore"

A tall figure in an ornamental armor replaced the emblem, with a powerful-looking sword strapped to his waist and long cloak attached to its back, it certainly commanded authority and looked intimidating.

"Children of Mandalore, hear me" the voice was deep, commanding, powerful "I have received confirmed reports of an alien attack against one of our border worlds, Shanylia. The attackers have been identified as the Batarian Hegemony, they have attacked us without provocation, hoping to enslave our people, steal our technology. Their actions will not go unpunished, our people are not some cattle to be stolen. With these words, I, Vespian Sammond, Mandalore the Continuator, ruler of the Mandalorian Empire, declare war on the Batarian Hegemony.

We will show those spineless weaklings how big of a mistake they made by attacking our people, we will slaughter their armies, we will leave their worlds in ruins. They will rue the day they made us their enemies! For Manda'yaim, Oya Manda!"

The message cut off, leaving Garrus with every Mandalorian in the room smiling widely.

"There is another message for us" Bredon informed them "I'll play it too"

He touched the datapad again, activating the hologram. The same skull-like symbol appeared, this time the message was audio only.

"This is an Empire-wide alert to all Imperial forces" it began "Mandalore has declared ki'agr bu'nijr solus. Shanylia is under attack by a hostile force. I say again, we are under attack by a new alien race. All nearby Imperial forces are to immediately send reinforcements and link up for a counter attack. First and Second fleets are being mobilized to reinforce the front and counter-attack. More instructions will be sent on coded channels. For the Empire"

The entire room went silent, astonished by what they just heard.

* * *

AN: Sorry it's so short, but I decided to cut the chapter into three parts: this, the actual battle(about 2-3k long) and the... hah, not gonna spoil it for you!

Anyway, sorry for the wait, but I was really stuck at the Mandalore's speech and title, the former had to sound and look epic, the latter had to... actually mean something lore-wise.  
You also got the first hint at a re-worked social structure for the Mandalorians, and yes I have to do that in order to have Mando-like society and make sure they can actually run an empire. It will be complex, strange, but it will still borrow heavily from Legends. Although it will not be the same as Mandalorian War-era.  
You undoubtedly noticed a reference to the republic... and Jedi/sith powers... all will be explained in due time. (I'm still working on the lore)

ki'agr bu'nijr solus - Threat Condition One

Now, the reviews!  
1nt3rD1ct0r: I know the 1st person is a turn off for many, myself included, and I will rarely use it from now on. Unfortunately, I had to use it for the introduction because an omniscience narrator would kill any attempt (poor as it was) at showing the first contact from Garrus's perspective.

Joy is Overrated: Bredon mind-raped Garrus to get his language (Turian) and gave him Basic, to let him communicate with other Mandalorians as well. But as you can see from the fact that in the 1st person all Mando'a are not understood by Garrus, he doesn't know that language. As for the Spartans/Astartes, I've got SOMETHING in mind, borrowing from 40k a little, a little from actual star wars lore, a little from others... don't worry, my solution will be more than interesting, and will heavily influence the lore in a couple of places.

Shadow Walker of Fire: Thanks!

helkil: Thanks again for pointing out the fucked-up paragraphs. As for your question... I haven't decided if either of them will have the force. Just figuring out the galaxy-wide lore at the moment. Maybe I should do a galactic history entry?

Also, Holy shieeet. Barely 2 chapters in and this story go 50 follows. Thanks guys!

Oh yea, one last thing before my autistic mind forgets again. I'm still looking for a cover pic for this story... any ideas?


	4. Chapter 4: Sacrifice

Day 1: 5 hours since the battle began.

"Incoming!"

Everyone in the trench ducked as yet another artillery strike rocked the defense line, BEC has been relentlessly trying to pound the Mandalorians into submission.  
Unfortunately for the attackers, their orders were to capture the wreckage for study, therefore they couldn't use anything heavier than their tanks and a light artillery battery.

After the first attack failed spectacularly with the battalion falling back within 10 minutes, there were several other attempts, each failing as well. The Mandalorian force was heavily dug in, motivated and ready to meet their attackers head-on.

Garrus leaned against an ammo crate. Bored, he decided to try and talk to one of the shepard twins in front of him.

"How do you think it will last this time?"

"Between an hour and two hours, at least that's what I put 50 credits on" John replied

"You're betting on how long an artillery strike will last?" after everything he learned, Garrus already knew that the Mandalorians were culturally very different from Council species, but it seemed there was always yet another thing about them that was entirely normal to them while sounding ridiculous to him.

"Do you have anything better to do?" Shepard chuckled "gambling is just something to pass the time, it also gives us something to look forward to"

"One would think that surviving the war would be something 'look forward to' " countered Garrus

"Maybe, it is. But when you're surrounded by death and your chances of survival are in single digits, you need something to keep you going short-term, something to distract you from the fact that every second death is only a few meters away" an explosion rocked the trench, another shell landed just outside it

"You people are strange, and too okay with both the war and dying"

"That may be" Jane said while wiping a fresh layer of dust from her T-shaped visor "but our entire society revolves around personal sacrifice, violence, war, and our families. It's just who we are"

An hour later

"And you owe me 50 credits, sis" said John victoriously

"But of course dear brother, here" Jane took out a 50 credit chip from her pouch and held her hand out. As her twin reached for his winnings, she casually threw it over her shoulder, over the trench, and into the no-mans land. A wave of laughter followed from others who saw that.

"Now, that's just immature"

"Said a guy betting on how long the artillery strike will last" Garrus chimed in, grinning and causing more laughing around the scene.

"Touché" was all that John said before grabbing his rifle and loading in a fresh mag "Come on, they will attack soon"

* * *

27 minutes later

"Pull back! We need to pull back!"

The attack that followed the artillery strike was stronger than they anticipated, the sheer numbers of BEC tanks, followed by a swarm of infantry were overwhelming their defenses.

"Alpha ready, Bravo pull back!" Garrus heard on the command channel and along with half of the trench, started a mad dash for the secondary a dozen or so meters he threw himself on the ground along with everyone else that was running and opened fired on the advancing BEC forces.

"Bravo ready, Alpha pull back!" came in the orders for those remaining in the first trench.  
He watched as more and more Mandalorians came running towards him, carefully avoiding getting hit by friendly fire. They quickly ran past him and about 10 seconds later the order came down.

"Alpha ready, Bravo pull back!"

Firing a quick burst, Garrus got up as fast as he could and turned on his heel, beelining for the trench. He jumped in and not even bothering to wait for the order, he opened up on the advancing BEC, his rifle cutting down a Salarian and an Asari that were sticking out of their cover, eager to shoot the retreating Mandalorians.

"Bravo ready, Alpha pull back!"

One more mad dash and everyone, minus a few unlucky bastards, was in the second trench, their section of the line was the last one to make it.

"Keep firing, they need to get in range!" Came in their orders from Raginis

"You still want to be here Garrus?" asked Bredon as he opened fire with his Verpine rifle next to the Spectre

"Does it matter now?" he asked back while his shot pierced another Salarian's head, blowing his brains out

"Not really, since we can't get out of here even if we wanted to"

Whatever Garrus was about to say was cut off by the deafening explosion, the ground in front of them buckled and exploded, throwing hundreds if not thousands of enemy troopers and dozens of tanks into the air before it all came crashing down.

* * *

Day 2: 32 since the battle began

"Fix bayonets!"

One of the most dreaded orders a soldier could ever hear on the battlefield came through a few minutes after the explosion

"We have to take back that trench, everyone, fix bayonets and prepare to charge!" ordered Bredon while walking through the ranks, soldiers shifting uncertainly as they head it, but nevertheless, everyone took out their knives and mag-locked them to their weapons

"Prepare to charge on my command!" the Inquisitor commanded.

About a dozen rockets screamed above them, fired from the remaining wreckage behind, they were gaining altitude before turning and raining down on the enemy line from above with pinpoint accuracy.

"CHARGE! FOR THE EMPIRE!"

As Bredon lighted up his lightsaber and got out of the trench, everyone else following his lead, creating a fast approaching line of beskar-clad bodies with bayonets. Machinegun and small arms fire hit it, trying to stop it but the Mandalorians refused to take one step back, those that were hurt and couldn't go on opened fire on the enemy, trying to suppress them in any capacity, desperate for the attack to succeed.

Garrus was running behind Bredon, amazed how his saber seemed to block all incoming fire. A series of explosions forced him to focus back on the fight.  
The missiles finally hit their mark, obliterating their targets, creating an opening for the advancing Mando warriors to enter the trench.

Garrus jumped down, activating his Omni-blade and stabbing a salarian through the skull, immediately ducking after, narrowly evading a point-blank shot from a turian next to him. He moved the now-dead salarian in front of him, using the body as a shield, and fired a quick burst from his modified pistol into his would-be killer's head, first 3 rounds bounced of off the shield, but the fourth and fifth got through it and blew a hole in his head.

Hearing a roar of anger, Garrus turned around just to receive a punch to his face making him recoil back. Before he could react to the asari that was now about to shoot him, her head was neatly separated from her body by a Mandalorian with an ax. As the Spectre was about to thank the warrior for saving his life, another BEC trooper was charging his savior from behind, without time to explain, Garrus kicked the legs from under the Mandalorian, a surprised yelp escaping his lips and in a swift motion raised his Omni-blade to block the incoming attack.

The blades clashed, neither side was gaining an advantage and the trench was still in chaos, this had to be done fast.  
Shifting his stance, Garrus deactivated his bladed and shifted to the right, knife passing next to him harmlessly, and kicked the salarian in the stomach, making him double over from the pain. Just as he was about to shoot him, the Mandalorian on the ground got to his knees and punched the salarian in the stomach with a gauntlet blade.

Having a breathing room, the Specter looked around to see how others were doing. The Mandalorians were more proficient in hand-to-hand fighting and they seemed to be mopping the floor with BEC forces in the trench. And that was without even mentioning the Inquisitor, surrounded by charred and dismembered bodies, cutting through weapons armor and flesh alike.

In less than a minute, it was over. Whoever could, was firing on the retreating BEC reinforcements that now found themselves without any cover and in range of multiple rifles and recovered heavy machineguns. Garrus calmly walked up to the Inquisitor, spilled guts, blood, and screams of the dying filling the trench. One of the dying turians grabbed his attention, his face was covered in blood, his insides were spilling out of his torn abdomen, he was reaching out with his hand.

"Help...me..." he said weakly, his hand stretched out, trying to grab Garrus's

Before he could react, a blaster bolt hit the wounded turian in the head, boiling his brain instantly, killing him. The Spectre turned to see Bredon holstering his pistol before nodding to him and turning to face the frontline.

* * *

Day 3: 71 hours since the battle began

The battle was going downhill fast.

For the last three days, Mandalorians held the valley, for three days BEC launched attack after attack, only to fail in securing their objective.  
This, however, was going to be the last one, the blood was in the water and the invading Hegemony sharks could smell it clearly, yet they still didn't realize just how much blood was there.

Mandalorians were running out of ammo, meds, ideas, and men. Almost all of their forces on the frontline were walking wounded, all heavy cannons were obliterated during the previous attacks, leaving them only with AT hand grenades and whatever weapon they could improvise.

Yet, they kept on fighting.

Before communication with the Capital was severed, Raginis received confirmation that smaller clans and bands of people were arriving from all over the continent to support the defenses, with the results being worth their sacrifice, he did best to keep the defensive line from collapsing.

Garrus could see what was happening, being a Spectre after serving in the Hierarchy's military he saw enough action to realize that BEC had them beaten, it was only a matter of time before the line collapsed and they had to go to plan B, which was blowing the crashed ship's reactor and taking out the entire Hegemony force in the valley. He was not exactly thrilled by that plan, but there were still vehicles and a couple of shuttles, hopefully enough to evacuate whoever is left standing while the reactor goes critical

"Sector...ing...ute..."

Garrus grimaced, there it was again, ever since the comm relay collapsed, they would sporadically receive random signals from the planet, bouncing off of the ships, rocks or whatever else. Unfortunately, it was unintelligible.

"Spectre, on your left!" yelled Jane while opening fire on a Turian that somehow sneaked up on Garrus, a quick burst from her carbine left a smoking husk.

"Thanks!" he shouted back and went back to lending his sniping skills to the defending forces, only to scream into the local comm channel, panicking.

"Tanks! Enemy tanks incoming!" Whoever was out in the open, dived for cover as the advancing armor opened fire.

"ETA...utes" he could hear the comm echo again, but before he could even register whatever it said, he could hear a trench piercing scream.

"AAAGH!"

Looking for the source of it, he saw the other Shepard twin standing in the clear, smoke blowing out of the rocket launcher he just dropped, along with his forearm which was severed at the elbow by hostile fire.

"JOHN!" Jane screamed in panic and ran out of cover, tackling her brother to the ground, narrowly missing most of the follow-up burst.

Most of it.

Two high-caliber accelerator rounds pierced her body, blowing a bloody chuck out of her thigh and hip. She and her twin collapsed to the ground in a bloody heap.

However, before they could be finished off, a wall of sickly purple lightning slammed into the vehicles that fired at them engulfing them in a deadly storm of electricity, shield emitters exploded as screams of pain could be heard coming from inside the tanks.

Lord Inquisitor Bredon stood in the open, his lightsaber deactivated. Hate, pure and raw, radiating off of him in waves as the thunderstorm materialized at his fingertips, days of pent-up frustration and anger making themselves known.

"...en it!...ell!... op drop... o... ploy, deploy!" another comm echo, but no one paid any attention to it, the battle around them coming to a halt as no one nearby could force himself to look away from the terrifying display of power.

No one, but Zaeed, who used the distraction to make his way to the disabled twins and pulled them into the trench, slapping a bacta-drenched bandage on their wounds.

Bredon's display of power, however, was not dying down. The thunderstorm was now engulfing an entire tank platoon with infantry mixed in around it, the only thing that broke through the storm was his warcry, filled with hatred.

"Hettir, aruetii!" Garrus shivered when he heard it, something primal signaling to him that if he wants to live, he should run.  
The same was felt by every Hegemony soldier that was staring at the Inquisitor, some trembled while others took a fearful step back, raising their rifles uncertain if they can even hurt something so powerful.

Just as how it started, it ended, the storm vanished leaving only charred remains of any living beings caught in it and half-molted wreckage.

Bredon collapsed to one knee, utterly spent.

Taken aback by such a powerful display and a sudden end of it, everyone, including the Mandalorians, just stared at him, then at each other, then at their enemies.

Enemies.

Something clicked in everyone's head at the same time and both sides raised their weapons again, although half of BEC guns were aimed squarely at Bredon. However, before anyone could pull their trigger, multiple heavy objects slammed into the ground across the entire valley.  
Although Garrus was already prone, he was still thrown to the side, smacking his head into a rock.

"REINFORCEMENTS! REINFORCEMENTS HAVE ARRIVED!"

More, smaller impacts across the defense line, the Spectre got up to his knees and took a look at what just landed.

A giant hulking humanoid walker slowly rose to his feet, surrounded by a host of smaller, reptilian-looking robots with weapons protruding from their 'heads', a single Mandalorian on their back.

Whatever they were, the battered defenders seemed very happy to see them.

"Kad Company, begin the purge" Garrus heard a deep mechanical voice coming through the oversized speakers on the humanoid walker as it raised a shuttle-sized weapon and fired.

* * *

AN: Yea yea it's been a while, but I do have a life you know.  
I also suck at trying to write a battle, so it took even longer than it should've, anyway, I hope you enjoyed.  
Now, reviews!

I changed the first person to the third person, decided that 1nt3rD1ct0r was kinda right, and I definitely suck at FP more than at TP.

Coment9, yes, yes you will. I already made hints to the existence of the Republic in some way, you have an inquisitor with Jedi/sith training, plus there will be a lot of politics involved in the main arc, you know, galactic cold war and all.

radindusan2, Good point, I will translate phrases in author notes.

Until next time everyone! probably next month at the earliest, my CO has me helping in the Bootcamp of 2 new companies for our battalion so I won't have much time to just sit down and write a new chapter.

Also, I welcome pm's pointing out spelling and grammar errors.  
Why the hell no one told me i misspelled "Shepard"?

* * *

The battle was inspired by the battle of Wizna, where Captain Władysław Raginis with a force of just 720-ish men, 12 bunkers, 42 MGs,4 76mm cannons and 2 AT rifles held the entire German XIX Army Corps including 3rd Panzer Division, 20th Motorized Division, and 10th Panzer Division, totaling about 42,200 infantry, 350 tanks, and 657 artillery pieces. For three days a small force made up mostly of conscripts outnumbered 40:1, held against the inventor of Blitzkrieg. While ultimately it was only prolonging the inevitable, their sacrifice allowed IOP Narew to avoid complete encirclement and allowed elements of the Polish army to reinforce Warsaw, prolonging the defense war.

Out of 720, only 40-60 were captured by the Wehrmacht. Captain Raginis, who pledged that he will die before surrendering, fought to his dying breath by blowing himself up along with a squad of German soldiers in the command bunker.

Why do I mention this? Because I will be using various battles and individuals from European history, which are mostly forgotten, as a way to pay my respect to heroes and generals that fought against insurmountable odds for a just cause.


End file.
